Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Storm

Special Thanks: goes out to DarkAnonymous324, rao hyuga 18, naash, Zyrr, kimbi07, Kari-Kateora, and SnowCharms for all your amazingly kind feedback on the last chapter! You all are the best readers in the world, I think...

Author's Note: Another piece of fluff for you all after the heavy material in Sanctuary. Writing this one was pure enjoyment, so I hope you all like it, too! Thanks again for reading, reviewing, alerting, and favoriting this collection!

*~Storm~*

Tenten let out a long sigh of relief as she melted into the mattress beneath her, allowing its softness to soothe the various aches and pains in her body. It had been nothing short of a severely long day, and now all she wanted was to sleep.

Neji's arm slid around her, and she let out another unconscious sigh as she tucked herself closer to his warmth. The last few stubbornly taut muscles in her body relaxed, making her body melt into complete comfort as her heavy eyelids fell shut. Sleep...

Something warm and slightly heavy landed on her lower back, making her abruptly jerk back into wakefulness as it shifted off of her as quickly as it had landed. Tenten was getting ready to roll over to see what it was when a body curled up tightly against her, shivering, face pressed into her back, little arm clutching her tightly about the waist. "I'm scared!"

Another body wormed its way between her and Neji, shaking even harder than the first. "Me too!"

Tenten lifted her head slightly to see the clock sitting on Neji's bedside table. One-thirty. She'd already been asleep for three hours, but it didn't feel nearly that long. "What's wrong?" Her question was immediately answered by a crack of thunder overhead, so loud that the items on the bedside tables and desk rattled.

Her son squeaked and buried his head tighter into her back at the same moment that her daughter did the same against her chest. "Scary!" they both cried in unison.

Floundering a moment to escape from the many arms wrapped around her, Tenten sat up and discreetly hid a yawn behind her arm as sthe stretched. Then she dropped her arms, wrapping one around each child as Neji rolled over to flick on his bedside lamp. "It's okay, shh," she whispered. "Thunder can't hurt you. I promise."

Hizashi stared up at her with wide white eyes while his sister Hikari's pale lavender ones squeezed tightly shut. "How do you know?" He shivered again.

"I've lived through many, many storms," Tenten replied wisely. "So has your papa." Briefly lifting her arms away from her children, she held them out in demonstration. "See? Not even a scratch."

Hikari's teeth chattered as she spoke, giving her a stutter similar to her aunt Hinata's. "B-But y-you're a g-g-grown-up."

Neji shared a glance with Tenten, then lifted his daughter into his lap as he brushed strands of wavy chocolate hair, damp with fearful sweat, off her delicate face. "What is thunder?" he asked softly.

"L-Loud," Hikari replied tearfully. Hizashi nodded quickly in agreement. "Scary, too," he tacked on.

Tenten knew exactly what her husband was going to say next and had to roll her lips together to smother her urge to smile.

Shifting his gaze from Hikari to Hizashi, Neji regarded them both with false solemnness. "What are your uncles Naruto and Lee?"

The children brightened slightly at the mention of two of their favorite people in the "whole wide world." "Fun!" they declared.

Neji chuckled. "Not quite what I was going for. What else are your uncles?"

The two children considered this for a moment, then announced in unison, "Loud!"

"B-But not scary," Hikari added, wrinkling her nose.

"Exactly," Neji said. Smiling at last, he bowed his head to kiss Hikari's dark hair. "And would Uncle Naruto or Uncle Lee ever hurt you?"

"No!" Two small heads shook in violent disagreement. Both children glared at their father as if wondering how he could dare even consider such a horrible thing.

"There you go. Storms are loud, just like your uncles Lee and Naruto, but they won't hurt you." He leaned in a little closer to Hikari, motioning for Hizashi to do the same as he whispered, "And even if the storms try to hurt you, your mama and I will always be here to protect you."

Radiant smiles met this declaration as Hizashi and Hikari hugged their parents tightly. Now that they were reassured, they didn't complain or drag their feet when Tenten and Neji tucked them back into bed. In fact, they both fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. Each kept their arms wrapped around their stuffed panda bears - gifts from Hinata when the twins were born - which seemed to take the last of their fears from them.

Tenten slumped back into bed, wincing at the pain in her lower back. "You know," she remarked as Neji flicked off the light, "your son doesn't need to learn the Gentle Fist to hurt someone. All he has to do is jump on their lower back, and they'll be out for the count."

Neji chuckled as he drew her into his arms, hand gently rubbing the hurting spot. "Go to sleep, Tenten," he said. She felt the vibrations in his chest, then a soft rumble, that let her know he was trying not to laugh.

It didn't take much effort to follow his suggestion.

Once a month, the members of the infamous Konoha 11 and their various offspring gathered at Naruto's to spend some time together. Several years had passed since they'd first met and become friends, but they maintained that closeness that had turned them into such a tightly knit group in the first place. Thankfully, their kids seemed to be carrying on the tradition.

Almost everyone else was already there by the time Neji, Tenten, and the twins arrived. Hizashi and Hikari took off ahead of their parents, running to greet all their honorary aunts and uncles and their friends. The elder two Hyuuga followed at a more sedate pace, pausing to to greet their friends as they came to them.

As if Fate had pre-arranged everything, the twins found Naruto and Lee standing by the grill with Chouji, who was sneaking bites even as he cooked. Hizashi and Hikari ran right up to the Hokage and Neji and Tenten's former teammate, looked up with adoring smiles, and shouted in unison, "Uncle Thunderstorms!"

Naruto choked on the drink he'd just taken as Lee physically stumbled backwards a step to keep from falling over in surprise. "What?" the two men demanded, also in unison.

Hikari looked up with innocent eyes and said, "Mama and Father said that you are loud like the thunderstorms, but that you won't hurt us."

Tenten felt her face flush three different shades of red. As she turned to hide against Neji, she thought she saw a hint of pink along his neck and around his ears. "You had to tell them that," she muttered.

Lee burst out laughing, leaning over to sweep Hikari up into his arms and hug her. "Of course I will not hurt you, youthful flower!" he declared.

The Hokage fondly ruffled Hizashi's shoulder-length dark hair. "Lee's right," he said. "And so are your parents." For good measure, he leaned over to peck Hikari's cheek with a fond kiss. "You two are too darn cute to hurt, anyway."

Hikari giggled and buried her face in Lee's neck shyly. Hizashi mumbled something about cute being for girls and ran off to talk to the Nara boy, his best friend.

"Boom!" Naruto said cheerfully when Neji and Tenten finally approached. "So, thunderstorms, huh?"

"Hizashi and Hikari were scared." Tenten shrugged. "We wanted to compare the sound to something positive to reassure them."

Lee grinned, kissed Hikari's other cheek, then set her down. "I think thunderstorms are a youthful thing with which to be compared," he said nobly. "Though dangerous, they can be beautiful."

"And loud," Naruto added with a knowing grin.

"Yes, you are," Sakura said, smiling as she rested her head on Naruto's shoulder fondly. "What were we talking about? Oh, hello, Tenten, Neji."

Lee leaned around the blond to address the pink-hairked kunoichi. "Neji and Tenten youthfully compared Naruto and me to thunderstorms."

Sakura arched one finely shaped eyebrow. "Thunderstorms?"

Hikari moved around Naruto and Lee to wrap her arms around her aunt Sakura's waist in a strangling hug. "Uncle Naruto and Uncle Lee are loud like thunderstorms, but that just means they won't hurt us," she explained innocently.

Patting the dark head resting against her slightly swollen stomach, Sakura chuckled and nodded. "I used to be scared of thunderstorms, too," she said. "But now I've just learned that they're annoying and noisy, but the rain that comes with it is soothing, and the lightning can be pretty if you're watching from a safe place." Winking at Neji and Tenten, she took Hikari's hand and led her over to where her older cousin was weaving a circlet of flowers for her hair.

Later, after everyone had gone their separate ways and Neji and Tenten had settled their exhausted twins into bed, another thunderstorm started rumbling in the distance. And even though it got very loud, when the elder Hyuuga checked on their children, they found Hizashi and Hikari still asleep, arms wrapped around their pandas, sweet smiles on their faces.

*~The End~*

Author's Ending Notes: Another bit of fluff for you all! I love the idea of Neji and Tenten having twins, so I created Hizashi and Hikari, who are a bundle of fun to write, I must admit. I think being afraid of thunderstorms is a common childhood fear, so I wanted to play around with it, and when I was trying to think of something Neji and Tenten could compare them to that would alleviate their fears, an image of Naruto and Lee just popped into my head, and I couldn't resist going with it. Especially when right after that I heard the twins say, "Uncle Thunderstorms!" in my head. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this piece, and thanks for reading!